FRANCO SABATELLI

VERSIONE ITALIANA
 
Franco Sabatelli: forty years of Brera.

The story within the story, the adventure of Franco Sabatelli in the latin district of Milan.
Witness and protagonist of an epoch-making transformation.
 

Brera at the beginning of 1961, was still to be explored and developed. In the early sixties this was an area of small time craftsmen and artisans: black smith's, glass workers, little workshops and garages, local restaurants, trani, named after the city from which the wine - cheap, strong and generously served - originated. And then there were the artists.diverse and desperate who found in this district a place to sleep and eat a modest meal at a decent price (payment which often consisted of bartering). Piero Manzoni, Castellani, the legendary Lucio Fontana and Dova, Sassu, Migneco, Crippa; the writer Luciano Biancardi, the journalist of "Corriere" Dino Buzzati, the poet Alfonso Gatto, the photographer Ugo Mulas, the incredibly young Uliano Lucas, to name but a few. Within this rich tapestry Franco Sabatelli matured and flourished on both a personal and professional level.

At first at the side of his mother, Alessandra, a conspicuous and distinguished antique collector, and then with his discrete and irreplaceable wife, Brunella. It was with their help and support that he began his research of a specialisation that resides on the very edge of art: the antique picture frame. Years of underground research, of refinement, findings and journeys into a world of antiques, where it is difficult to go beyond furniture ribalta lombardo and of fratino tables... The frames which he rediscovered helped contribute to their importance and place, well deserved, within the world of antiques. Sabatelli is like the Ippogrifo: his work is a mixture of idealism and healthy Milanese pragmatism.

Time proved him right: the pilgrimage towards one of the most fascinating antique shops world-wide had started. Franco, having framed masterpieces for the most renowned Italian and international private collectors and museums, has now, after forty years, put together his antique frames with the work of those artists, now present in museums world-wide, that at the beginning of their careers exchanged their masterpieces for something to eat or a good glass of wine. Combined with his normal activity as an antiquarian, he also works as an art consultant and popularizer both in Italy and abroad.


Since 1982, Franco Sabatelli has participated, as an expert within his field, in Milanese exhibitions including: Mostra Mercato Antiquari Milanesi and Mostra Internazionale dell'Antiquariato regarding the frame, sculpture, varnished and gilt wood sectors. Prestigious foreign public institutions such as the International Vive Institute for Frame Study, Washington D.C., USA and the National Museum of Romania, Bucharest, have requested Sabatelli's expertise in organisation of specialised courses of antique frames. In 1992 Sabatelli published La cornice Italiana dal Rinascimento al Neoclassico for Electa, a text of fundamental importance for the study and comprehension of antique Italian frames. Reprinted many times, it is the most complete book available on this subject.
Franco Sabatelli has also held important associative positions including: president (twice) of the Italian Federation of Art Dealers, and president (four times) of the Milanese Antiquarian Syndicate.


31 2006 December Franco Sabatelli has closed its historical gallery after 46 year of activity.
Hour is taken care exclusively of the study and the catalogation of the Italian ancient frames.
Who wanted to contact can make it to us to the +39 3358134766 or +39 026598532 or at the address sabatelli@sabatelli.com.
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